We show that the second iterate H^2(M) = H(H(M)) of a random oracle H cannot achieve strong security in the sense of indifferentiability from a random oracle. We do so by proving that indifferentiability for H 2 holds only with poor concrete security by providing a lower bound (via an attack) and a matching upper bound (via a proof requiring new techniques) on the complexity of any successful simulator. We then investigate HMAC when it is used as a general-purpose hash function with arbitrary keys (and not as a MAC or PRF with uniform, secret keys). We uncover that HMAC\'s handling of keys gives rise to two types of weak key pairs. The first allows trivial attacks against its indifferentiability; the second gives rise to structural issues similar to that which ruled out strong indifferentiability bounds in the case of H^2 . However, such weak key pairs do not arise, as far as we know, in any deployed applications of HMAC. For example, using keys of any fixed length shorter than d − 1, where d is the block length in bits of the underlying hash function, completely avoids weak key pairs. We therefore conclude with a positive result: a proof that HMAC

is indifferentiable from a RO (with standard, good bounds) when applications use keys of a fixed length less than d − 1.

Our main result is a construction of a lattice-based digital signature scheme that represents an improvement, both in theory and in practice, over today\'s most efficient

lattice schemes. The novel scheme is obtained as a result of a modification of the rejection sampling algorithm that is at the heart of Lyubashevsky\'s signature scheme (Eurocrypt, 2012) and several other lattice primitives. Our new rejection sampling algorithm which samples from a bimodal Gaussian distribution, combined with a modified

scheme instantiation, ends up reducing the standard deviation of the resulting

signatures by a factor that is asymptotically square root in the security

parameter. The implementations of our signature scheme for security levels of

128, 160, and 192 bits compare very favorably to existing schemes such as

RSA and ECDSA in terms of efficiency. In addition, the new scheme has shorter

signature and public key sizes than all previously proposed lattice signature

schemes.

As part of our implementation, we also designed several novel algorithms which

could be of independent interest. Of particular note, is a new algorithm for

efficiently generating discrete Gaussian samples over Z^n. Current

algorithms either require many high-precision floating point exponentiations

or the storage of very large pre-computed tables, which makes them completely

Sequential aggregate signature (SAS) is a special type of public-key signature that allows a signer to add his signature into a previous aggregate signature in sequential order. In this case, since many public keys are used and many signatures are employed and compressed, it is important to reduce the sizes of signatures and public keys. Recently, Lee, Lee, and Yung (PKC 2013) proposed an efficient SAS scheme with short public keys and proved its security without random oracles under static assumptions.

In this paper, we propose an improved SAS scheme that has a shorter signature size compared with that of Lee et al.\'s SAS scheme. Our SAS scheme is also secure without random oracles under static assumptions. To achieve the improvement, we devise a new public-key signature scheme that supports multi-users and public re-randomization. Compared with the SAS scheme of Lee et al., our SAS scheme employs new techniques which allow us to reduce the size of signatures by increasing the size of the public keys (obviously, since signature compression is at the heart of aggregate signature this is a further step in understanding the aggregation capability of such schemes).

There is a growing concern with preventing unauthorized agents from discovering the geographical location of Internet users, a kind of security called location privacy. Typical deployments of IPv6 make it possible to deduce the approximate geographical location of a device from its IPv6 address. We present a scheme called Cryptographically Protected Prefixes (CPP), to address this problem at the level of IPv6 addressing and forwarding. CPP randomizes the address space of a defined topological region (privacy domain), thereby making it infeasible to infer location information from an IP address.

CPP can be deployed incrementally. We present an adversary model and show that CPP is secure within the model, assuming the existence of pseudorandom functions. We have implemented CPP as a pre-processing step within the forwarding algorithm in the FreeBSD 4.8 kernel. Our performance testing indicates that CPP pre-processing results in a 40-50 percent overhead for packet forwarding in privacy domain routers. The additional end to end per packet delay is roughly 20 to 60 microseconds. We also give an attack against the address encryption scheme in [Raghavan et al. 2009]. We show that the CPP forwarding algorithm is resilient in the event of network failures.

In this paper, we report that we have solved the shortest vector problem (SVP) over a 128-dimensional lattice, which is currently the highest dimension of the SVP that has ever been solved. The security of lattice-based cryptography is based on the hardness of solving the SVP in lattices. In 2010 Micciancio \\textit{et al.} proposed a Gauss Sieve algorithm for heuristically solving the SVP using list $L$ of Gauss-reduced vectors. Milde \\textit{et al.} proposed a parallel implementation method for the Gauss Sieve algorithm. However, the efficiency of more than 10 threads in their implementation decreases due to a large number of non-Gauss-reduced vectors appearing in the distributed list of each thread. In this paper, we propose a more practical parallelized Gauss Sieve algorithm. Our algorithm deploys an additional Gauss-reduced list $V$ of sample vectors assigned to each thread, and all vectors in list $L$ remain Gauss-reduced by mutually reducing them using all sample vectors in $V$. Therefore, our algorithm enables the Gauss Sieve algorithm to run without excessive overhead even in a large-scale parallel computation of more than 1,000 threads. Moreover, for speed-up, we use the bi-directional rotation structure of an ideal lattice that makes the generation of additional vectors in the list with almost no additional overhead. Finally, we have succeeded in solving the SVP over a 128-dimensional ideal lattice generated by cyclotomic polynomial $x^{128}+1$ using about 30,000 CPU hours.

We investigate alternative suspicion functions for bias-based traitor tracing schemes, and present a practical construction of a simple decoder that attains capacity in the limit of large coalition size $c$.

We derive optimal suspicion functions in both the Restricted-Digit Model and the Combined-Digit Model. These functions depend on information that is usually not available to the tracer -- the attack strategy or the tallies of the symbols received by the colluders. We discuss how such results can be used in realistic contexts.

We study several combinations of coalition attack strategy versus suspicion function optimized against some attack (another attack or the same). In many of these combinations the usual codelength scaling $\\ell \\propto c^2$ changes to a lower power of $c$, e.g. $c^{3/2}$. We find that the interleaving strategy is an especially powerful attack. The suspicion function tailored against interleaving is the key ingredient of the capacity-achieving construction.

The position involves research in the area of IT-Security/applied cryptography within the BMBF project UNIKOPS - Universell konfigurierbare Sicherheitslösung für Cyber-Physikalische heterogene Systeme. The successful candidate is expected to contribute to research in IT-Security and applied cryptography for CPS.

The position is available immediately and is fully funded. The salary scale for the position is TV-L E13. The gross income depends on the candidate\\\'s experience level. At the lowest level it corresponds to approx. 40,000 EUR per year. Contracts are initially offered for two years. An extension is possible.

He or she is given the possiblity to carry out a Ph.D.

The successful candidate should have a Master\\\'s degree in Computer Science, Mathematics, Information Security, or a related field. Knowledge in cryptography is an asset.

The deadline for applications is July 31, 2013. However, late applications will be considered until the position is filled.

The Deutsche Telekom Chair of Mobile Business & Multilateral Security at Goethe University Frankfurt offers a position of a Scientific Assistant (m/f, E13 TV-G-U). To strengthen our team we are looking for a committed, creative and flexible PhD candidate (male/female) with advanced professional knowledge in Information Technology and interest in the current development in business informatics.

We are looking for people with advanced knowledge and special skills in at least three of the following areas:

The position is available immediately and has a fixed-term of 3 years with an extension option. Deadline for applications: 1st of July 2013 Please see our job advertisement for the full details on our career site at: